Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Mastering the College Essay

As college
applications season kicks into high gear, the application item that seems to
strike the most fear in students is the essay. Follow these tips for a great essay!

·Show,
and then tell.

Use an anecdote, a real life moment,
to grab the reader in the beginning.Showing
takes advantage of those concrete details that we can’t resist: the specifics
of something that happened. Who can resist the juicy stuff? Then the writer can
“Tell” or explain, analyze, reflect, etc., on what happened later in the essay.

“I don’t hear anything but my own
breathing and footsteps” rather than “When you take a step
back and observe how modern society functions, it appears quite chaotic and
busy.”

Be yourself.Don’t try to impress.Be likeable. Be honest.This is a student’s time to shine, to let the colleges learn more about
who the applicant is beyond grades, test scores and activities.Don’t think about what you think the colleges
want to hear.It is more important to be
engaging than impressive.

“I am a good loser.It is an art I have perfected.When I was six, I lost a button up my nose”…

·Narrow
the lens and own the story.

Be specific.Use all of your senses through adjectives and
details. Owning the story means no one else could tell it and it didn’t happen
to anyone else.It doesn’t have to be an
extraordinary event; it just needs details so nobody else could tell the story
the same way.

“I was extremely nervous before the
orchestra started playing”… Probably every kid in the orchestra felt that.Instead, “I was sitting on the stage with my
violin resting on my shoulder, and I was sure I’d never been that nervous.I looked out into the crowd and somehow found
my dad”.

The best essays are meaningful
experiences that also make for good stories.

·Don’t
repeat information from the rest of the application.

As the editor of the school
newspaper, a student would certainly be proud and want to write about it.But it was already listed on the activities
section of the application. So rather than writing about what it is like to be
the editor, narrow the lens and recall a particular story associated with being
the editor, owning the story with rich details.Another approach is to share a story that has not been mentioned
anywhere on the application.Remember,
the college is wanting to get to know the applicant better.

·Sound
like a high school senior.

Find the balance between too formal
and too casual as the student tells the story in the firstperson. This is difficult for teenagers as
they are not accustomed to this type of writing.Ask these questions:Is this something the student would actually
say to someone else? This keeps the writer from being too formal. How would you
say it if you were describing it to your favorite teacher?This keeps the writer from being too casual.

“Participating in varsity baseball
has been a valuable experience for me because it taught me the importance of
committing to my goals”.I don’t know
too many teenagers that would actually say that.But they might say:“Varsity baseball was the first time in my
life that I actually wrote a goal down on a piece of paper and promised myself
I was going to do it.”

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